To Kill a Hippogriff
by Charlett
Summary: A Guardian becomes the guarded as a Hippogriff carries little Anise off. Grabbing Tokunaga, it's Jade and a scary little doll on a whirlwind adventure to save her!


GriffinKhan needs a present for Christmas. WHY!? I'll TELL you why! She invited me to the AIM chats with everyone else and she NEEDED a thank you giftie! I didn't make a gift for anyone else because I didn't have the time, but I finished this!

Hope you enjoy all the Jade-ness!

And now, without further ado:

READ ON!

To Kill a Hippogriff  
By Christy!

Jade adjusted his glasses as Luke sailed past him. The duke's son dropped in the dirt after being the victim of a rather tough Hippogriff strike. The colonel sighed as he lifted his hand and began to cast a Fonic Arte. Tear was already at Luke's side. Anise smiled happily as she prepared to encounter the enemy, "Dual Dragon Surge!" She cried out, Tokunaga slamming bodily into the flying enemy.

"Energy Blast!" The Necromancer's strike added with Anise's Arte. The huge bird dropped to the ground with a cry.

"Alright! We did it, Colonel!" Anise sang happily, turning to the man, waving her wand about, "Nothing can defeat us!" Jade began to smile in return, but then his brows knitted.

"Focus on the battle at hand, Anise!" He shouted in warning, eyes flashing dangerously from behind his glasses. Anise blinked, and turned just in time to see the second Hippogriff in the battle stretch its talons out and grasp at the girl's arm. With a scream, she was flung from Tokunaga, who smiled even as he turned back into a normal doll. Jade's heart skipped a beat when he noticed that the Hippogriff refused to release the girl, and instead intended on pecking her in the air.

Anise screamed as the creature flew higher and higher in the air, tugging angrily on her pigtail, which must have resembled a rather large black worm, "Let me go! Let me go! Colonel, Luke, help me!"

"Oh no, Anise!" Ion cried, taking a step forward. Guy placed his hand on the young Fon Master's shoulder, shaking his head.

"If anyone can bring it down, it's Natalia. Natalia!" The swordsman shouted.

"You don't need to TELL me!" The princess nagged, whipping up her bow. She nocked the arrow and pulled back the string, aiming for the creature's wing. Every time she got a good shot, the monster would move again, putting the girl back in peril again. Natalia was beginning to get aggravated, and her hand was slipping from the perspiration that she was getting from her careful aim. Jade saw that this was a recipe for disaster, and they just didn't have enough Gald to buy another Life Bottle. He rushed Natalia and made his lance appear. The princess gave a shout as he tapped the arrow upwards and the jolt made her release it. The arrow sailed so high into the sky it disappeared. Natalia then berated the Necromancer for ruining her shot.

"Anise!" Ion cried as the Hippogriff gave up eating the Fon Master Guardian (after noticing he was getting shot at) and flew her off to a more private location to pick her apart, "We have to save her!" The group groaned a bit at the fleeing monster, and packed up quickly, intent on catching up to the damsel in distress. Jade suddenly whirled around when he realized they had all forgotten about Tokunaga. Grabbing the doll by his arm, the Necromancer rushed double time to keep up with the group.

---

"Dammit, why do monsters get to escape faster than us?" Luke moaned as the creature practically disappeared from sight, heading into the mountains. He turned back to the wheezing Ion who was being supported by Tear and Natalia, "No thanks to Ion! We'd have caught up if you weren't slowing us down!"

"I'm really sorry, it's all because of me," Ion apologized, "I just can't… go much further…"

"We'd better split off then," Guy said, acting the leader as usual, "Our fastest will go together, and the others will care for Ion until he is well to continue…"

Jade seemed very out of place with one hand in his pocket and one clutching the arm of a demonically smiling stuffed animal, "Well then, that leaves Guy and I," He looked at the Fabre servant, "Shall we be off?"

"But Guy has to stay behind and pitch my tent for me!" Luke whined, because Lorelei FORBID he do it HIMSELF. Jade wondered if he needed Guy to dress him for bed as well…

"Well then, I'll be going myself," The Necromancer said matter-of-factly, shrugging off any attempt to dissuade him of his decision. The group just didn't have enough time to sit around arguing. Taking a deep breath to will away the pain in his side, he rushed off towards the mountain that the Hippogriff escaped to.

"Ja…" Tear sighed, "I guess… he's forgotten about his Fon Slot Seal…"

"Or he he's gotten a little touched in the head when Legretta unloaded into him?" Guy pondered.

"Or maybe he's actually worried for Anise's safety?" Ion added to the assumptions. The group looked at the young Fon Master, and they burst into laughter.

"Yeah, like THAT'LL ever happen," Luke said happily, wiping a tear from his eye.

---

Jade finally had to lean on his lance to keep from dropping to his knees. The mountain was just too much after all that running… He willed the pain away and continued to drag himself up with the help of his lance.

He then heard the Hippogriff scream in what he assumed was triumph, and with a groan of pain in his protesting joints, he dragged himself up further. He didn't want to use a Life Bottle; he DIDN'T want to use a Life Bottle…

…Finally he reached the summit, and stared at the scene before him. The moment Anise had been dropped in the monster's nest; she had reached out to grab one of the largest branches of the bunch. Using it as a pike, she had kept the monster at bay and even poked one of the creature's eyes out. It was clawing at its damaged eye as blood and goop from said damaged eye splattered all over the Fon Master Guardian, making her extremely sticky as she was covered in it.

"You little jerk!" Anise cried as she clawed angrily at the crap all over her, "NOW look at me! You got me all messed up! If only Tokunaga were here, I'd teach you a HUGE lesson!" Jade sighed good-naturedly, a smile gracing his face. He should have known…

"Well then, Anise," He called as he advanced upon the giant nest, lifting up the smiling doll so he could be seen better, "Your wish is granted!"

Anise rubbed the mixture from her eyes, and suddenly gave a squeal, "Colonel! You came for me, and you brought Tokunaga too!" She crawled from the nest, preparing to grab at the doll, until she realized what she was covered in. Grinning sheepishly at the fact that she didn't want to touch her doll and get him dirty, she shined her pearly whites and put on her best "adorable little girl" face, "Do you mind if I left the rest to you, Colonel?"

"If I must…" He said, pretending to sound irritated. He then began to cast one of his Fonic Artes as the Hippogriff realized its prey was escaping. The monster screeched and prepared to attack the two, but Jade finished his Arte first, "Turbulence!"

The Hippogriff gave a cry as it was blown backwards, and Jade drew in a deep breath. His body cried out in pain and Anise blinked at the Necromancer as he sagged just a bit, "Colonel… you're a mess…" She said, "Should I…"

"I'm fine," He replied quickly, straightening up and preparing to cast again. The Hippogriff was already upon them. Jade spread his legs out, partly to brace himself for the strike the monster would surely make, partly to protect Anise from being attacked again. The two began to hear a faint whizzing, but the Necromancer paid it no mind as he continued to cast.

The Hippogriff opened its beak in a scream and Anise wanted to snatch Tokunaga from Jade's hands and fight, but by this time, it would only interrupt the colonel's casting; it would spell disaster. She then looked up when she heard the whizzing sounds from above, and her eyes widened when she saw it was an arrow sailing down from the sky. The moment the monster almost snapped up the Necromancer's outstretched casting hand, the arrow slammed straight through the monster's head, and it dropped to the ground with a gurgle before its life drained and it lay unmoving.

The two blinked at each other, and then looked back at the arrow, "That… that…" Anise began.

"Was Natalia's arrow," He said, looking at the specifically Kimlascan feathers that stuck from the shaft. Anise suddenly burst into giggle fits, and the colonel chuckled. Saved by an arrow shot a quarter of an hour earlier… That princess' shooting arm was amazing to be able to fire an arrow that far… perhaps Jade should thank her when they got back to camp…

He decided against it.

---

"Anise!" Natalia cried, rushing towards the little girl who was still covered in eye crap. Ion smiled happily at his guardian, "What happened?"

"I stabbed the bastard in the eye!" She said with a smile, making the princess gasp at such vulgar language, "And then you killed it with your arrow!"

Natalia looked to Guy in an attempt to ask what Anise was talking about. The swordsman shrugged in response. Ion arrived next to Anise and smiled brightly, "I'm so glad you're okay, Anise!" The guardian giggled a bit at the attention Ion was giving her.

"Either way," Tear said as she stood up from starting the campfire, approaching the small group that was forming, "I scouted out a river a little ways south of here. We all need a bath. Come on Anise, Natalia, we'll go get washed off first."

"Hurray!" Anise proclaimed, "Colonel, watch Tokunaga and Ion for me!" She waved at Jade as she glommed onto Tear with a devilish grin, just to get the gunk all over the Hymnist. She gave a groan as the three went off to bathe in the river. Jade sighed a bit, adjusted his glasses, and went to go rest by the campfire, as the sun was beginning to wane. Ion followed and soon the four men were surrounding the roaring fire.

"It's no fair…" Luke broke the silence with a mutter as Guy wiped drool from his mouth and poked the logs with a stick, "Tear and Natalia are going to be naked in that river and splashing each other, and I'm not going to be able to see a thing…" Jade snorted in an attempt to keep from laughing at the perverted thoughts of the men, and Ion blushed when he thought of a woman in… "that predicament" (in his own words).

Jade simply shook his head and smiled a bit. Children were so fun to listen to. As he stared into the fire, Tokunaga smiling in his lap, he let his aching joints, nerves and bones take a break. They deserved it.

Jade promised himself never to do something as stupid as again…

**The End!**

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Meeeeeeeerry Christmas, Griff! I hope hope hope hope you enjoyed it! Yay PLEASE like it!


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